India’s September exports at $23 bn grow nearly 5% over last year

New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Signalling a clear reversal of the continuous decline in Indian exports, official data on Friday showed September exports at $ 22.88 billion grew 4.62 per cent over exports recorded in the same month last year at $ 21.87 billion.

However, cumulatively for the six-month April-September period, exports were down 1.74 per cent in dollar terms at $ 131.4 billion, as against exports of $ 133.7 billion over the same period last year, as per data released by the Commerce Ministry.

The government said growth in exports have fallen for the US, European Union and China but Japan exhibited positive growth for July 2016, over the corresponding period of the previous year, as per latest WTO statistics.

“Non-petroleum exports in September 2016 are valued at $ 20.33 billion against $ 19.28 billion in September 2015, an increase of 5.44 per cent,” a statement here said.

Imports during the month in question at $ 31.22 billion, were 2.54 per cent lower than the imports of $ 32.03 billion in September 2015.

Consequently, the trade deficit in September this year at $ 8.34 billion witnessed an 18 per cent fall compared to the same month last year at $ 10.17 billion.

Cumulative imports for April-September were worth more than $ 174.41 billion, which was a 13.77 per cent fall from $ 202.27 billion worth imports recorded for the same period a year ago.

With global oil prices climbing back to $ 50 a barrel levels, India’s oil imports during September 2016 were valued at $ 6.89 billion, which was 3.13 percent higher than oil imports valued at $ 6.68 billion in the corresponding period last year.

The trade deficit cumulatively for April-September also declined more than 37 per cent to $ 43 billion against $ 68.55 billion in the same period of 2015-16.

As per Reserve Bank of India data on Friday, taking merchandise and services together, overall trade deficit for April-September 2016-17 is estimated $ 161.2 billion, which is more than 60 per cent lower than the deficit of $ 403.7 billion during April-September 2015-16.